How to use Facebook and Twitter to learn Luxembourgish for free

When you are trying to learn Luxembourgish, you have an additional disadvantage that you might not have with other languages: the lack of exposure to it. But Facebook and Twitter come to the rescue and bring you daily vocabulary for free!

“It’s a hard language to learn”, you say. “You have to know French and German to speak Luxembourgish.”

Well, it is always hard to learn a new language, Luxembourgish is no different. Every language has its own way of thinking, it’s own way of organizing letters and words into sentences. It can be difficult to remain open minded and put aside any negative thoughts.

I remember when I started learning Spanish, I was incredibly confused by the fact that they omit the personal pronoun and start a sentence with a verb (so not “I ate a sandwich” but “Ate a sanwich” - “Como un sándwich”). I am ashamed to admit that the sentence “That’s just stupid” had crossed my mind. But no matter what you might think of it, eventually you just have to accept that that’s how it is.

As for knowing German and French to learn Luxembourgish, it is true that the more languages you know, the easier it is to learn new ones. However, I choose to look at it in a positive light. If you don’t know any of those languages, you have a major advantage as well: you don’t compare German or French to Luxembourgish and you don’t get mixed up. Even though Luxembourgish seems to borrow quite a few French and German words and use principles of German grammar, Luxembourgish is significantly different to those languages. So if you don’t know German or French, you can start learning Luxembourgish with a fresh mind.

What is the biggest disadvantage when you're learning Luxembourgish?

It is the lack of exposure to Luxembourgish that is the biggest hindrance to learning it. Unlike other languages, you don’t really see or hear Luxembourgish all that much, even if you live in Luxembourg.

I have written before about why you should learn Luxembourgish nonetheless, let me just briefly state here, that the trend of using Luxembourgish is increasing and that the long waiting lists to get into a Luxembourgish class are a sign that Luxembourgers and foreigners alike are making efforts to preserve Luxembourgish.

How can you learn Luxembourgish the easy way?

You can dramatically improve your Luxembourgish by just increasing your exposure to it. The more your brain hears and sees Luxembourgish, the more familiar it becomes. Language learning needs a lot of repetition and luckily nowadays, we have a lot more options to do this in a fun way.

The first step to increasing your exposure to Luxembourgish without any effort whatsoever is to listen to Luxembourgish radio whenever you can and even if you don’t understand anything. Over time, you will get used to the sounds and melody of Luxembourgish and before you know it, you will be able to make out the words.

The second step to improving your Luxembourgish easily and for free is to sign up to the Learn Luxembourgish Twitter and Facebook feeds where you will get daily Luxembourgish-English vocabulary, sentences and expressions.